A few months ago, BMW unvieled its vision for the next 100 years which included the wild concept car, BMW Vision Next 100.
Yesterday at BMW’s 96th shareholder meetingHarald Krüger, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG boldly laid down what that vision will mean for the next five to ten years.
In addition to confirming that a comprehensive line of plug-in hybrid cars will go on sale this summer (the 2, 3, and 7 series as well as the X5), that an X7 full-size SUV and an open topped i8 Roadster would join the lineup in 2018, Mr. Krüger made this bold pronouncement.
“Our goal is already clearly-defined – to be Number ONE in autonomous driving.” And then he added that BMW would bring to the road in 2021 “the BMW i NEXT, our new innovation driver, with autonomous driving, digital connectivity, intelligent lightweight design, a totally new interior and ultimately bringing the next generation of electro-mobility to the road.”
What will the i NEXT look like? How many people will it seat? How will it be powered? All of those questions remain to be answered, but for now BMW joins a number of car companies including Ford, Audi and Tesla that have committed to delivering fully autonomous vehicles in the next five years.
The future is coming fast. It’ll be here sooner than we think. Are you ready?